[PEN-L:1593] George Kennan

[Brad De Long]

>Kennan was also the one who  later lamented that " the image of a Stalinist
>Russia poised and yearning to attack the West, and deterred only by
>(America's) possession of atomic weapons, was largely a creation of the
>Western imagination."  He cautioned against "demonizing the adversary,
>overestimating enemy strength and overmilitarizing the Western response." He
>goes on to say that ". . . the West did not  . . . win the Cold War through
>geopolitical containment and military deterrence ..." or by "  . . . the
>Reagan military buildup . . . Instead 'victory' came when a new generation of
>Soviet leaders realized how badly their system at home and their policies
>abroad had failed." He doesn't sound like too much of a hawk to me.
>
>Damon

Kennan... shifts over time. "Strong views weakly held," as my sister says...

Brad DeLong